Power seat randomly stopped reclining

[backcountrymedic]

Hey all,

I've got a 2006 Sport Edition, and I'm the 2nd owner. My passenger side power seat recline has stopped working. It's not the first time either.

The first time it happened, I had been working behind the dash, installing an aftermarket head unit. I had been sitting in the passenger seat, hunched forward with my hands in the dash, and when I sat back up, noticed that the seat was all the way reclined, and the switch didn't work anymore. Fore-aft worked fine, just no recline. I tried to troubleshoot it, and ultimately ended up replaced the entire power seat switch, which solved the problem.

Since then, it has randomly stopped working and then started working again spontaneously a few times.

Fast forward to last week... I got the 4Runner detailed inside and out, and when I picked it up from the shop, the seat recline had stopped working again, and this time hasn't come back to life on its own.

I have a replacement switch in a box in the garage, ready to swap in if needed, but I'd sure like to troubleshoot why this is happening. Any of you fine folks have any ideas or suggestions for me? Please keep in mind, I'm a shade-tree mechanic, and can learn just about anything, but I'm no expert, especially when it comes to trying to read a wiring diagram or test electrical systems.

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Jared

 

[riceandpho]

Hey all,

I've got a 2006 Sport Edition, and I'm the 2nd owner. My passenger side power seat recline has stopped working. It's not the first time either.

The first time it happened, I had been working behind the dash, installing an aftermarket head unit. I had been sitting in the passenger seat, hunched forward with my hands in the dash, and when I sat back up, noticed that the seat was all the way reclined, and the switch didn't work anymore. Fore-aft worked fine, just no recline. I tried to troubleshoot it, and ultimately ended up replaced the entire power seat switch, which solved the problem.

Since then, it has randomly stopped working and then started working again spontaneously a few times.

Fast forward to last week... I got the 4Runner detailed inside and out, and when I picked it up from the shop, the seat recline had stopped working again, and this time hasn't come back to life on its own.

I have a replacement switch in a box in the garage, ready to swap in if needed, but I'd sure like to troubleshoot why this is happening. Any of you fine folks have any ideas or suggestions for me? Please keep in mind, I'm a shade-tree mechanic, and can learn just about anything, but I'm no expert, especially when it comes to trying to read a wiring diagram or test electrical systems.

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Jared

take the switch apart, might need to check all solder joints.

 

[backcountrymedic]

Update:

Swapped out the switch with a brand new one and still have the same problem.

Tore the seat out, disconnected all wiring plugs and cleaned them. Traced the wires from the seat back motor straight back to the switch/plug and checked continuity by running power through it manually. Direct power connection (straight from a 12v battery) through the wiring activates the recline motor perfectly.

I set the seat angle manually, which works for now, but now I need to figure out why power doesn't seem to make it through the switch to the recline motor. Unless for some odd reason, the brand new switch I have is defective too. Seems a little too coincidental to me.

Power seems to get distributed to the seat motors through the switch. There's a positive and negative feed wire that goes to the switch. It then must get distributed through the switch to the fore-aft motor and recline motor during switch activation.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Jared

 

[backcountrymedic]

Update 2:

Put everything back in and back together, and now the $%@$#@ switch works!

 

[AuSeeker]

Sounds like a bad ground.

 

[backcountrymedic]

Sounds like a bad ground.

I was thinking that as well, but wouldn't for the life of me know where to look. Any ideas?

 

[AuSeeker]

I was thinking that as well, but wouldn't for the life of me know where to look. Any ideas?

I haven't had to mess with my seats since I haven't had any issues with them, so I can't advise you where to look, but I would get busy with a multimeter tracing any ground wires, gently pulling on them and seeing if I could find one that lost continuity during the process.

 

[Bumbo]

I was thinking that as well, but wouldn't for the life of me know where to look. Any ideas?

At this point I would leave good enough alone.

Sometimes I go looking for trouble and find it. I recommend not doing the same.

 

[backcountrymedic]

At this point I would leave good enough alone.

Sometimes I go looking for trouble and find it. I recommend not doing the same.

That's a great point! Since it's working now, I'll leave it be. But if it buggers up again, I'll get after it.

 

[AuSeeker]

I agree by all means don't touch it now :scared:, definitely wait until it malfunctions again!!!

 

[Johns06yota]

Hey all,

I've got a 2006 Sport Edition, and I'm the 2nd owner. My passenger side power seat recline has stopped working. It's not the first time either.

The first time it happened, I had been working behind the dash, installing an aftermarket head unit. I had been sitting in the passenger seat, hunched forward with my hands in the dash, and when I sat back up, noticed that the seat was all the way reclined, and the switch didn't work anymore. Fore-aft worked fine, just no recline. I tried to troubleshoot it, and ultimately ended up replaced the entire power seat switch, which solved the problem.

Since then, it has randomly stopped working and then started working again spontaneously a few times.

Fast forward to last week... I got the 4Runner detailed inside and out, and when I picked it up from the shop, the seat recline had stopped working again, and this time hasn't come back to life on its own.

I have a replacement switch in a box in the garage, ready to swap in if needed, but I'd sure like to troubleshoot why this is happening. Any of you fine folks have any ideas or suggestions for me? Please keep in mind, I'm a shade-tree mechanic, and can learn just about anything, but I'm no expert, especially when it comes to trying to read a wiring diagram or test electrical systems.

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Jared

Since everything else works as others were saying you might want to hunt down the ground for the reclining motor or the ground on the switch. You could also test to see if its a power feed issue by connecting the motor to a 12 volt source to see if it moves on its own back and forth.

 

[TowMeOut]

Intermittent connections like this are a bear to troubleshoot. Most every plug I've had a reason to disconnect on my truck (seats included) got a good squirt of dielectric grease in the contacts before going back together. Knock on wood this has managed to keep most of the electrical gremlins away.

In your tinkering with the seat, did you by chance find a good point to lubricate any of the mechanism? Mine makes a terrible racket for about the front third of the travel going front/back. I looked underneath the seat but the screw drive that moves the seat seems mostly enclosed (probably some safety thing).

 

[backcountrymedic]

In your tinkering with the seat, did you by chance find a good point to lubricate any of the mechanism? Mine makes a terrible racket for about the front third of the travel going front/back. I looked underneath the seat but the screw drive that moves the seat seems mostly enclosed (probably some safety thing).

No, sorry but I didn't. I wasn't really focused on that, but just on the wiring.

 

[riceandpho]

the ground wire for the seat is right underneath the carpet. you can also use the same ground point when doing amp install, its better than using the actual seat bolt.

 

[backcountrymedic]

the ground wire for the seat is right underneath the carpet. you can also use the same ground point when doing amp install, its better than using the actual seat bolt.

Well, unfortunately my seat gremlin has returned. It actually returned quite awhile ago, I just haven't had any time to try and troubleshoot it.

I swapped out the seat switch again, and had no luck there. I tore the seat out, found the ground that was suggested above and made sure that it was solid. Also no joy.

I'm planning to tear the seat out again, try yet another 12v direct connection to the recline motors to make sure that isn't the problem. Next up I'm thinking to test continuity for the wiring from the switch to the motors and see if a wire is bad. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Cheers,
Jared

 

[riceandpho]

Well, unfortunately my seat gremlin has returned. It actually returned quite awhile ago, I just haven't had any time to try and troubleshoot it.

I swapped out the seat switch again, and had no luck there. I tore the seat out, found the ground that was suggested above and made sure that it was solid. Also no joy.

I'm planning to tear the seat out again, try yet another 12v direct connection to the recline motors to make sure that isn't the problem. Next up I'm thinking to test continuity for the wiring from the switch to the motors and see if a wire is bad. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Cheers,
Jared

check the 30 amp fuse by your knee on the inside.